Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion HiFi & HT Chat Streaming Video Services Compared

The link below might be of interest to those who think that all Streaming Video devices are the same.

Also interesting for those who consider 1080p to be 1080p and 5.1 Audio to be 5.1 Audio.

As ever, the devil is in the Detail

Streaming Services Compared

I posted this in another thread the other day, but I'll post it here again for the sake of completion.

Netflix claim 5.1 Audio and hopefully the above shows how bogus those claims can be.

Likewise they claim 1080p streaming and also claim that they will soon be moving to 4K Video Streaming!!! which THEY claim will require a constant 15Mbps connection.

This 4k claim is quite ironic when they almost never deliver the bitrates they claim are necessary for even 1080p i.e. 4,500kbps... most people top out at 3,000kbps... or many times lower depending on your ISP and the time of day.

To see what you're actually achieving with Netflix, search for the short "Example Short 23.976" on Netflix thru your player and play it. As you will see, the Bit Rate and the Resolution are Dynamically encoded in the playback screen and tell you what you're watching as the video progresses (and the Bitrate / Res might change).

Quite educational as to what you're ACTUALLY watching.

P.S. When looking at the above Netflix rates, it's worth bearing in mind that Blurays achieve varying rates between 15Mbps to 45Mbps depending on the scene and the Blu-ray Disc.

If you believe that you're missing nothing in the approx 25,000kbps difference between Netflix (on a good day) and Bluray then by all means...

Perhaps I am missing something here.

Do you mean I should be seeing a display of some statistics from time to time?

It started with showing a number >70,000,000 and then nothing except sky, fountain, waterfall, etc.

Hi Gianni,

Yes, once you select the correct Video, then the Bitrate and Resolution should appear in yellow in the upper left hand quadrant of your screen, just as the image below shows



You will see the Bitrate and Res change as the connection 'Ramps Up' to establish what the Netflix server considers to be the optimum connection. Likewise, you may also see this vary if you try it at peak viewing times (6pm to 11pm).

The main thing is to select the correct Video... when you search for "Example Short 23.976", it will return several videos with similar titles (the "Reviews" are worth reading for a laugh)... some of them will have Roman Numerals after the above title (e.g. I, II, IV etc.) ... just make sure that you select the EXACT video with the above title above, with nothing after the text.

If you like, you can always try Netflix on your computer browser, just to see how the video should behave and then try it on your ATV.

Hope that helps.

Cheers
Ronnie

My mistake, was watching the wrong one.

I am apparently getting a 5800 kbps signal with 1920 x 1080 resolution, unvarying through the 11 minutes at 20:00.

Thanks Ronnie.

You're doing very well Gianni!!! Living in London does have some advantages

A quick look around the various Netflix, AVS and AV Sciences Forums will confirm that you're definitely in the minority.

But that's good for you

There's that.

I was pretty convinced my ATV3 picture and sound were very good - you had me worried.

The internet connection is ~60meg on BT Infinity+ "unlimited" , so something is being throttled by someone, presumably Netflix.

(Carl - is it worth breaking this thread out into the general hi-fi forum so others can share their speed diagnostics using the very useful tip that Ronnie suggested?)

Not necessarily by Netflix funnily enough.

Do a search for Netlfix and Net Neutrality and you'll see how things have gone in the US recently... and the way that things are likely to go for Video Streaming Providers on this side of the pond in the not too distant future IMHO.

Was aware of the US situation and can see the position of the network operators, albeit it is short-sighted.

Since BT, Virgin and Sky are all IPTV providers as well as network operators I would, naively perhaps, hope for better here, especially as it seems our competition setup is more sophisticated.

I assume Netflix are streaming to the UK and Europe from local hosting centres, presumably with some redundancy and resilience.

Good idea, Done.

Regards,
Carl

The US Providers like Comcast, Verizon and soon to be others are also directly or indirectly involved in the provision of Streaming Video services.

Their arguments will be used in a similar way by BT, Sky and Virgin, i.e. "We've invested Billions in the provision of all this Broadband Infrastructure for OUR use... why should we allow providers like Netflix, BBC etc. to benefit from our investments without charging them for the provision of the service that enables their businesses??"

Which is IMHO, a reasonable business request on the face of it.

However, the difficulty comes from the fact that this rationale then prevents the next Netflix or similar from rising from the ashes to a position of prominence... e.g. if at their Streaming Launch, Netflix US had to pay Comcast & Verizon the numbers now being charged, then they simply would never have gotten off the ground.

Net Neutrality is an important concept for future growth and choice, but it's got its problems in the real business world.

Ronnie,

The Oppo/TV are currently occupied by the wife and visiting daughter so I'm not going to mess with that. Instead I found your Netflix site on my desktop which is on the same network as the Oppo. I got the following results; 3000kbps, 1280x720 and Par 1:1. Our network tests out to be about 50mgs. The video quality has been good streaming the little Netflix we do, the audio so, so. I this a valid measurement?

Ken